Just because something is advertised on the Internet, it isn’t necessarily safe, as most people with any common sense would know all too well. And what really annoys me is the proliferation of fake ‘anti-spyware tools’ on the Internet.
New users tend to be lured in by dire warnings along the lines of “however you’re already protected, it won’t stop spyware unless you install this product”, followed by the user blindly rushing through the confusing EULA, which includes a passage deep in its depths that says something along the lines of “by clicking ‘next’, you consent that we can examine your usage data and install sponsor applications on your computer”. And so on.
Often these ‘cleaners’ will claim that antivirus software can’t remove spyware. Erm… yes they do, albeit not as successfully as real dedicated spyware removers.
Anyway, this suspicious site then proceeds to install itself, and the included malware, on the user’s computer. What they don’t realise is that more often than not, these ’spyware killers’ don’t actually get rid of spyware. They instead install spyware on the machine.
This kind of scam also occurs in programs that dub themselves “Whizzo PC Tuneup 2007″, “Brand X Registry Cleanser 8″, etc that generally attempt to lure users in with the promise of a faster computer etc.
